Operating means for railway-switches and the like.



7A.]. ALLARD.

OPERATING MEANS FOR RAILWAY SWITCHES AND THE LIKE. APPLICATION FILEDAPR.B,1916.

1 1 99,649 Patented Sept. 26, 1916.

I J g \O) ANDREW J. ALLARD, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

OPERATING MEANS FOR RAILWAY-SWITCHES AND THE LIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 26, 1916.

Application filed April 8, 1916. Serial No. 89,965.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW J. ALLARD, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Richmond, in the county of Henrico and State ofVirginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in OpcratingMeans for Railway-Switches and the like; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same. 7

This invention relates to improvements in operating means for railwayswitches and the like, and more particularly to the depressible trackbar construction,my present invention being applicable for use withswitch mechanism such as disclosed in application for patent filed by meon the second day of November 1915, and designated by Serial No. 59,290.

The object of my present invention is to simplify and improve thedepressible track bar so that it shall not be weakened by perforationsand to so mount the same as to insure its retention in place and preventinjury from lateral or other strains.

WVith this and other objects in View, the invention consists in certainnovel features of construction and combinations of parts as hereinafterset forth and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view illustrating anembodiment of my invention; Fig. 2 is a sectional View on the line 22 ofFig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4is a perspective view of the track bar.

1 represents the main track of a railroad; 2 the siding, and 3, 3, theswitch rails. The switch rails are connected with a switch standmechanism at such as disclosed in my former application hereinbeforeidentified, and said mechanism is connected with a depressible track bar5 by means of devices which may be such as disclosed in my said priorapplication, but which will be hereinafter described in connection withmy improved track bar construction.

The track bar 5 consists of a straight bar of metal, the upper face ofwhich may be slightly curved or beveled at its respective ends, asindicated at 6,said bar being provided at its respective ends withdepending lugs 7. Each of the lugs 7 may ha e a thickness equalapproximately to one-half the transverse thickness 'of the bar, and eachlug is made with a hole 8 which is slightly elongated.

The track bar 5 is placed in such proximity to the track rail 2 that itwill be in position to be depressed by the wheels of a train passingover the same and in order that the track bar shall be properly guidedin its vertical movements and prevented from lateral displacement, aguard rail 9 is located in close proximity to the inner side of saidtrack-bar,the latter being thus disposed between a track rail and aguard rail. In order that the accuracy of the vertical movements of thetrack bar shall be insured and all danger of engagement of the sameunder the head of the track rail shall be avoided, I secure fillerplates 1011 to the inner faces of thewebs of the track and guard rails,the exposed faces of said filler plates lying flush with the inner edgesof the heads of the track and guard rails.

To guard against possible longitudinal displacement of the track barwhich might tend to strain the lever connections with said bar, blocks1213 are located between the track and guard rails at respective ends ofthetrack bar and secured in place by means of bolts 14:.

The devices hereinbefore referred to, which may constitute theconnections between the switch mechanism and the track bar, whereby theswitch may be controlled by the operation of said track bar and wherebysaid track bar is maintained yieldingly in normal position, will now beexplained.

A bell-crank lever 15 is pivotally sup ported at the juncture of its twoarms 1617, and the arm 16 is adapted to cooperate with the switch standmechanism as explained in my previous application. The arm 17 of thebell-crank lever 15 is pivotally connected with one end of a rod 18mounted to slide through a fixed yoke bracket 19. A spring 20 encirclesthe rod 18 (within the yoke bracket 19) and bears at one end against acollar 21 onsaid rod,the other end of said spring having a bearing atone end of the bracket. The rod 18 is threaded, as at 22, for thereception of a nut 23 which bears against a sleeve 24 projecting fromthe yoke bracket 19 and through which the rod passes freely. Byadjusting the nut 2&011

the rodv 19, the tension ofthe spring 20 as well as the throw of thebell crank 15' may crank is pivotally connected with the rod-W 18. Theother end of the bellcrank 25 is connected, by means of a rod 27, withone arm of a bell-crank 28 and the other arm of the latterenters thehole 7 of the lug 8,at one end of the track bar 5. One arm of abell-crank29 enters the hole 7 of the lug 8 depending from the other endof the track bar 5. The other arm of the bell-crank 29 is connected withone arm of a bell-crank 30 and the other arm of the latter is connectedby meansof a rod 31 with the same arm of the bell-crank 25 as that towhich the rod 18 is connected.

From the construction and arrangement of parts above described, it willbe seen that the track bar will be held up in its normal position by theaction of the spring 20 in the power transmitting devices between thetrack bar and switch stand mechanism.

Having fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters-Patent, is p 1. The combination with a track rail anda guard rail, of a depressible track bar disposed between and guided bysaid track and guard rails, transmitting mechanism connected with saidtrack bar, and a spring connected withsaid transmitting mechanism andoperating normally to sustain the track bar in its normal raisedposition.

2. The combination with a track rail and a guard rail adjacent thereto,of a depressible track bar confined between said track and guardrails,filler plates secured tothe I the depending lugs of the track bar, and aspring connected with said transmitting mechanism and operating normallyto maintain it in its operative raised position.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presenceof two sub-- scribing witnesses.

ANDREWV J. ALLARD \Vitnesses:

I. B. BLACKBURN, WM. P. REDD.

copisof this patent may beobtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. c.

